- Cuba: Regime files terrorism charges against suspects over fatal US boat shooting
Source: ABC News
“Cuba said Wednesday it has filed terrorism charges against six suspects it claims were aboard a Florida-flagged speedboat that is alleged to have opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island’s north coast. The Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the suspects of Cuban origin remain in pretrial detention, adding that it will ensure ‘due process’ as it continues to act ‘in defense of our people and the country’s institutions.’ The government has said 10 heavily armed Cubans from the U.S. who were on board the boat opened fire as they tried to infiltrate the island to commit acts of terrorism. It said that Cuban soldiers returned fire, killing four suspects.” (03/04/26)
- Google ends its 30 percent app store fee and welcomes third-party app stores
Source: Engadget
“Google is officially doing away with its 30 percent cut of Play Store transactions, and rolling out changes to how third-party app stores and alternate billing systems will be handled by Android. Some of these tweaks were proposed as part of the settlement the company reached with Epic in November 2025, but rather than wait for final judicial approval, Google is committing to revamping Android and the Play Store publicly. The biggest change is to how Google will collect fees from developers publishing apps on Android. Rather than take its standard 30 percent cut of in-app purchases through the Play Store, Google is lowering its cut to 20 percent, and in some cases 15 percent for new installs of apps from developers participating in its new App Experience program or updated Google Play Games Level Up program.” (03/04/26)
- US House ethics panel investigates Gonzales over affair allegations
Source: Seattle Times
“The House Ethics Committee said Wednesday that it has opened an investigation of Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, over allegations that include having an affair with an aide. The top Republican and Democratic members on the committee said in a joint statement that an investigative panel would look into whether Gonzales engaged in sexual misconduct toward an employee in his office and whether he discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges. … The San Antonio Express-News reported that it had obtained text messages in which the former Gonzales staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with the congressman. … Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her home in Uvalde, Texas.” (03/04/26)
- TX: Regime to ban candy, soda from SNAP purchases starting April 1
Source: KDFW 4 News
“Starting April 1, Texas will become the first state to implement sweeping new restrictions on the types of food and beverages available for purchase through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), state officials announced Wednesday. Under the new rules, the 3.3 million Texans who rely on SNAP benefits will no longer be able to use their Lone Star Cards to buy candy, gum, or sweetened drinks. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) issued the reminder as part of a final push to educate retailers and recipients before the deadline. The policy change follows a waiver approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August 2025, a move championed by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Trump Administration to shift the program’s focus toward long-term health outcomes.” (03/04/26)
https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-ban-candy-soda-from-snap-purchases-starting-april-1
- EU lawmakers keep US trade deal in the freezer
Source: Politico
“The European Parliament’s trade lawmakers decided on Wednesday to keep the EU-U.S. trade deal frozen amidst volatile transatlantic relations. A majority of political groups voted not to move ahead with legislation to implement the EU’s side of the bargain struck at President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last summer. … The latest postponement follows Trump’s threat on Tuesday to impose a trade embargo on Spain for refusing to allow U.S. warplanes stationed there to launch air strikes on Iran.” (03/04/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-lawmakers-keep-us-trade-deal-in-the-freezer
- Israel: AG urges High Court to force Netanyahu to fire Ben Gvir; coalition fumes
Source: Times of Israel [Jerusalem]
“Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Wednesday called on the High Court of Justice to order that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from his position, unless the premier explains why he hasn’t done so. In a new legal filing, Baharav-Miara accused Ben Gvir of violating court rulings and showing ‘contempt for the rule of law’ while ‘systematically undermining the independence of the police.’ … In February, the High Court ordered Netanyahu to explain why he hasn’t fired Ben Gvir amid an ongoing court case over the far-right politician’s practices and policies in office.” (03/04/26)
- State lawmakers seek restraints on wage garnishment for medical debt
Source: Orange County Register
“Lawmakers in at least eight states this year are aiming to reel in wage garnishment for unpaid medical bills. The legislation introduced in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington builds on efforts made in other states in past years. This latest push for patient protections comes as the Trump administration has backed away from federal debt protections, health care has become more costly, and more people are expected to go without medical coverage or choose cheaper but riskier high-deductible insurance plans that could lead them into debt. … Wage garnishment is one tool creditors can use in most states to recoup money from people with unpaid bills. In many states, they can garnish someone’s bank account or put a lien on their home, too.” (03/04/26)
https://www.ocregister.com/2026/03/04/state-lawmakers-wage-garnishment-medical-debt/
- Brazil: Supreme Court orders the arrest of former head of Banco Master
Source: ABC News
“A Brazilian Supreme Court Justice ordered the arrest of Daniel Vorcaro, the former head of a bank worth up to $16 billion in assets, in a new phase of a sprawling investigation into a fraud involving billions of reais. In the 48-page long decision authorizing Vorcaro’s pretrial detention signed Tuesday and accessed by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Justice André Mendonça said the probe had already revealed signs of crimes by Banco Master against the finance and justice systems as well as participation in organized crime and money laundering. Separately, Brazil’s federal police said Wednesday in a statement that they had launched raids ‘investigating the possible crimes of threats, corruption, money laundering and invasion of computer systems carried out by a criminal organization.'” (03/04/26)
- The End of Scarcity: The Future That Won’t Happen
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Andy Fischer“A growing chorus of technologists and futurists now argue that scarcity is ending. Artificial intelligence will automate cognition. Robotics will automate labor. Energy capture will scale beyond planetary limits. Manufacturing will approach zero marginal cost. In this telling, the central economic problem that has defined human civilization for millennia is dissolving. This essay accepts the rise of abundance. The empirical case is strong. Real prices for lighting, calories, communication, and computation have collapsed over centuries. Extreme poverty has fallen dramatically. Automation continues to erode historically-binding constraints. But, from this undeniable progress, a stronger claim is often made: that scarcity itself will disappear. That claim is not bold, it is confused. Scarcity is not primarily a supply shortage, it is the structural condition of action under constraint.” (03/04/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/end-scarcity-future-wont-happen
- The War Powers Resolution Could Save the Country — and Trump
Source: The American Conservative
by Branko Marcetic“Trump has effectively put himself into a trap. On the one hand, Iran is determined to inflict pain on the United States and refuses to negotiate again, which means he cannot easily pull out without both personally looking weak and making the United States as a whole appear to have suffered a defeat. On the other hand, the longer the war goes on, the more Americans will die, the more the economy comes under strain, and the greater the likelihood that he is pressured into the politically toxic move of sending in ground troops or otherwise escalating U.S. involvement. In other words, to salvage his presidency in a year where many Republicans’ political futures are tied to his, Trump needs a way out of the war that will let him save face while also letting the Iranians claim a victory. This week’s War Powers Resolution vote offers exactly this chance.” (03/04/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-war-powers-resolution-could-save-the-country-and-trump/
- Full liberty makes our lives better
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“I don’t fear your liberty. Since liberty is the freedom to do everything you have a right to do, and nothing you have a right to do can violate me (or anyone else), I want you to exercise your rightful liberty every day of your life, all the time, without the fear of legislation enforcers and freelance creeps trying to stop or punish you. Then, I want the same for myself. I wish more people felt as I do. The world would be a better place if that were the case. If you are free to exercise your liberty, you’ll probably be happier. You’ll definitely be more mature and responsible. If not at first, soon. You’ll learn. People can’t learn to be responsible while being treated like children under the fist of an abusive parent.” (03/04/26)
- How the United States Propelled Tyranny in Africa
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by James Bovard“Phony piety has long been one of America’s top political exports. President Barack Obama, in a 2015 speech to the African Union, the organization of the African heads of state, derided nations that institute ‘democracy in name, but not in substance.’ But Obama’s finger wagging could not expunge how the U.S. government had long propped up Africa’s most oppressive governments. In the 1990s, Africa saw a surge of democracies in areas that for centuries had known little except kings, tyrants, or colonial conquerors. While democracy is often touted as the best way to strengthen civic bonds, representative government has too often been a horror show in Africa.” (03/04/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/how-the-united-states-propelled-tyranny-in-africa/
- Bikes make life freer. These laws could change that.
Source: Washington Post
by Kevin R Parker“A bicycle doesn’t require a license, registration, insurance or fuel. You don’t need an app or a subscription. You just get on and go. In an era when your car can track where you drive and report it to your insurance company, the freedom a bicycle offers is appealing. It is a form of transportation available to children, grandparents, minimum-wage workers, and anyone with legs and a sense of balance. Bicycles offer genuine freedom of movement in a world that offers less of it every year. E-bikes extend that freedom. Those who can’t manage hills anymore can ride again. Someone who lives a little too far from work for a regular bike suddenly has another option for the commute. E-bikes make the world bigger for more people. But policymakers are hard at work designing regulations that curtail this freedom.” (03/04/26)
- Occupational hazards: How Trump can avoid “forever war” in Iran
Source: Washington Examiner
by W James Antle III“President Donald Trump has shown a willingness to overthrow foreign leaders not seen since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in Iraq more than two decades ago, but he has yet to try to occupy and pacify another country militarily on that scale. That is why so far, none of Trump’s military actions have spiraled out of control like Iraq did, which raises questions about whether he can continue this pattern in Iran. It’s the occupation that turns a swift military action into a forever war. Trump tends to strike decisively and then quit while he is ahead, as evidenced by last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iran, the toppling of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and the bombing of Syria.” (03/03/26)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/4477736/trump-avoid-forever-war-iran/
- Computer Scientists Caution Against Internet Age-Verification Mandates
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Published on March 2, an open letter signed by over 400 computer scientists from around the world cautions that ‘those deciding which age-based controls need to exist, and those enforcing them gain a tremendous influence on what content is accessible to whom on the internet.’ They add that ‘this influence could be used to censor information and prevent users from accessing services.’ Even short of the most authoritarian controls, they warn, age-verification mandates encourage centralization and favor large companies and services over smaller providers. The computer scientists aren’t just responding to California’s law. Age-verification requirements are spreading across the world.” (03/04/26)
- How Third Way’s president plans to avoid the Biden fate in 2028
Source: Semafor
by David WeigelInterview with Jonathan Cowen. Cowen: “We are now in the middle of a multiyear campaign to get someone more moderate nominated for president, and to make sure to try to block a left-wing candidate. Our view is that parties change direction around their presidential candidates, not around anything else. So, we wanted to gather people around the candidates who could roughly fall in our lane, not the far-left lane, alongside the people from early primary states and the people from battleground states, and get them into a place where two things can happen. One: We can make our case about what direction the party should go in. Two: They can spend lots of time with each other.” (03/04/26)
- The Republic and Its Enemies
Source: Liberal Currents
by Thomas Pepinsky“The anti-Trump coalition in the United States is broad, spanning the political spectrum from establishment conservatives and libertarians to social democrats, progressives, liberals, and those who prefer to avoid politics altogether. The breadth of this coalition is both its strength and its weakness. A coalition against the current president and administration has the numbers to win any national election, just so long as everyone votes together. But the same coalition can be easily divided over policy: over tax rates, over how to rein in ICE, over policies to address racial inequality, and anything else. In other words, the anti-Trump coalition is a negative coalition, defined by what it opposes rather than what it supports.” (03/04/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-republic-and-its-enemies/
- Iran Is Morally Superior To The United States
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Iran is better than the United States. The United States is worse than Iran. This is true not because Iran is especially good, but because the United States is especially evil. Iran isn’t blanketing a major metropolis with military explosives, killing over a thousand people including hundreds of children. The United States is doing this with its partner in crime Israel. Iran isn’t continuously bombing and invading countries around the world, toppling governments, circling the globe with hundreds of military bases, targeting civilian populations with siege warfare and brandishing nuclear weapons at its enemies in the name of securing planetary domination. Only the United States is. The US empire is the single most murderous and tyrannical power structure on earth, by an extremely massive margin. No one else comes anywhere remotely close.” (03/04/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/03/04/iran-is-morally-superior-to-the-united-states/
- Gen Z Has a Love/Hate Relationship with AI
Source: The Bulwark
by Rachel Janfaza“Gen Z uses AI for everything. It’s embedded in apps for everything from social media and messaging to music and podcasts, it fills the role that search engines played only a few years ago, and it’s even common in online dating. The majority of Gen Z uses AI at home, at school, and at work every month, if not every day. In fact, nearly three in ten U.S. teens report using AI chatbots daily, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. But just because Gen Z uses AI doesn’t mean they like it. Despite its omnipresence—or even because of it—Gen Z has a complicated, ambivalent relationship with AI.” (03/04/26)
- The “meritocracy” exposed: Internal emails reveal how the Trump administration hires legal interns
Source: Popular Information
by Judd Legum“On Friday afternoon, Liberty University Law School emailed its first and second-year students about an ‘exciting opportunity to intern with the Department of Labor in DC.’ The available positions covered the full breadth of the DOL’s activities …. For second-year students, the internship ‘could lead to a full-time job offer for after your 2027 graduation.’ One important caveat: only passionate devotees of President Trump would be considered. Students who ‘aligned politically with President Trump’ and were ‘willing to work hard’ were strongly encouraged to apply, even if they had poor grades.” (03/04/26)
- Rubio’s Preposterous Preventive War Argument
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“Marco Rubio tries to spin U.S.-Israeli aggression: ‘The bottom line is this: The president determined we were not going to get hit first. … If you tell the president of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the president’s going to go first. That’s what he did. That’s what the president will always do.’ This is Rubio’s attempt at damage control, but this answer is even worse than the one he gave the day before. If the U.S. and Israel hadn’t attacked, U.S. forces weren’t going to get ‘hit’ at all. The president’s threat against Iran was the main reason that American troops were in any danger in the first place.” (03/04/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/rubios-preposterous-preventive-war
- March 4, 1801
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson delivered his inaugural address as our third president. Here is part of what he said: ‘Enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter. With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned …'” (03/04/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2026/03/04/march-4-1801-n2672265
- Worries Spread in Private Credit Markets
Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter C Earle“Risk migrated outside traditional banks, but insolvencies and widening credit spreads are raising questions about leverage and liquidity strain system-wide.” (03/04/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/worries-spread-in-private-credit-markets/
- The Iran War Is Jeopardizing the Entire Global Economy
Source: Foreign Policy
by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj“On Sunday, a fire broke out at a data center in Dubai belonging to Amazon Web Services. The facility was stuck by an object, likely shrapnel from an Iranian drone intercepted by the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses. The incident, which may mark the first time in history that a major company’s cloud data center was damaged in a war, is emblematic of the unprecedented nature of the conflict now unfolding in the Middle East. Far from just another war in the Persian Gulf, this is the first conflict since the Second World War to directly impact cities and facilities that serve as hubs in the globalized economy.” (03/04/26)
- The “Empire of Lies” Comes for Iran
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Charles Goyette“Benjamin Franklin said it best: ‘There never was a good war, or a bad peace.’ Now that war is again underway — the third attack on Iran in two years — people of healthy human consciousness must pray that the destruction and carnage is limited. Yet the trajectory appears to be grim. Wars often progress in unexpected ways. The Persian Gulf region is a tangled spaghetti plate of interests including economic, religious, cultural, and geopolitical. None of our politicians have proved capable of comprehending those interests and foreseeing the consequences of their elective wars.” (03/04/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-empire-of-lies-comes-for-iran
- Cilia Flores: A First Lady in a New York Cell
Source: Common Dreams
by Medea Benjamin & Michelle Ellner“On International Working Women’s Day in 2025, Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, read a poem she wrote highlighting the historic role played by Latin American women in the fight against imperialism: ‘We’re not flowers the wind can pluck, / we’re roots of rebel and loyal land, / we’re grandmothers, mothers, daughters, granddaughters; / we are woman. / Our blood pulses with the Manuelas, / Luisas, Josefas, Juanas, Cecilias, / Apacuanas, Bartolinas, Eulalias, / Martas, Anas Marías, Barbaritas / and so many others who legacy inspires, / commits, and strengthens us / to continue walking and traveling our path. / And in our hands and chests / a light is on that nobody will ever turn off: / love, peace and liberty.’ One year later, she languishes in a cell in New York City, having been dragged out of her room and kidnapped by US forces on the January 3 attack on Venezuela.” (03/04/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cilia-flores-first-lady-in-cell
- Has Trump Really Cut Federal Spending?
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“No, but the rate of growth of spending increases has slowed.” (03/04/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/has-trump-really-cut-federal-spending
- Brazil at a Historical Crossroads
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Deborah Palma“Brazil finds itself at a historical crossroads that demands a rigorous analysis of its institutional structures. The release of the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), record-breaking data from the Impostômetro, and the persistence of an authoritarian labor framework expose a system of economic asphyxiation and moral erosion. The State, under the pretext of protecting the citizen, in reality hinders their initiative, their property, and their future.” (03/04/26)
- The Republican Meltdown Over Iran Is Just Beginning
Source: The New Republic
by Alex Shephard“Right-wing criticism of Trump’s war has mostly come from familiar MAGA cranks like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson. But it could quickly spiral out of control.” (03/04/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/207311/trump-iran-war-maga-republican-crack-up-just-beginning
- The Science of Politics, 03/04/26
Source: Niskanen Center
“What predicts midterm election results?” (03/04/26)
https://www.niskanencenter.org/what-predicts-midterm-election-results
- Rising, 03/04/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar arguing that the Trump administration needs to provide clearer answers as to what their plans are for the conflict with Iran.” (03/04/26)
- Reason and Abortion
Source: Bet On It
“A conversation with Monica Snyder, Executive Director of Secular Pro-Life.” (03/04/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 03/04/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Iran War Day Four: Shifting US Narratives At Skepticism Grows.” (03/04/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 03/04/26
Source: Washington Post
“On Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel initiated strikes on Iran. What comes next? Host Megan McArdle sits down with Washington Post Columnist David Ignatius to discuss Iran’s response, whether the U.S. can sustain a prolonged conflict, what the war signals to adversaries like China and the economic risks of a closed Strait of Hormuz.” (03/04/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/what-comes-next-in-iran
- The Daily, 03/04/26
- Reason Interview: Jonah Goldberg
Source: Reason
“Jonah Goldberg discusses the Iran war, Trump’s governing style, the rise of the populist right, and why he believes the GOP is drifting away from conservatism.” (03/04/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/03/04/jonah-goldberg-the-gop-is-becoming-anti-conservative/
- Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, 03/04/26